Absolute Essentials – Knowing Our Strengths ~ blog

Knowing the powers of evil that we are up against is important because in war everything you can learn about your enemy will help you resist their attacks and defeat them. The problem with those of us who have become addicted and lost so many battles is that we have or have almost given up. We believe the BIG LIE that God has given up on us but that is a subject for another day.

I don’t care how bad you feel or how many times you have fallen. It does not matter to me the number of promises you have made to God and others only to break them and go back to your sin. The power you have available to you is not just a little more than the power of your enemy. It is infinitely more powerful, or should I say HE is infinitely more powerful.

Do you like to bet on football? If the best Pop-Warner football team is playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who are you going to bet on? If an Iraqi patrol boat is going up against the United States Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf who is going to win that battle?

I know we all have a sinful nature within us, we live in a fallen world, and we do battle against demonic forces, but we must never forget who we are and what God has given to us so that we can grow into more Christ-like men. He has not left us defenseless…on the contrary, we have all the power we need, and GOD is on our side…or better put, we are on God’s side. We are on God’s team. I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery. I may never fly over the enemy…but I am in the Lord’s army!!!

The most important strength we all must realize and fully believe is the reality that the Holy Spirit of God, the third member of the Holy Trinity…is now living inside of our bodies. That’s right He dwells inside of us and He will be there, in us, forever. Here are some Scriptures that teach us this phenomenal truth.

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17

Jesus is telling His disciples that after He leaves them the Father will give to them someone who will take the place of Jesus. This will be even better because the Spirit will be inside of them and He will be in them forever.

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”  

This passage, Ephesians 1:13-14, tells us that the moment we believed we were marked or branded as God’s own possession. We were sealed in Christ by means of the Holy Spirit…placed in Christ forever…and the Holy Spirit is God’s deposit into our very bodies as His guarantee that we will receive our eternal inheritance in heaven.

Also, we read in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20…

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” 

Lastly – Acts 1:8…

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Here is what you must never forget. You have been born-again by the Spirit of God and are eternally a member of God’s family. He has adopted you. He has sealed you with the Holy Spirit as His guarantee of your inheritance in heaven. He has placed His Spirit to live inside of your body and He is the answer to your problem with porn.

And the power of the Spirit who dwells within you is infinite. Remember what we read in Genesis 1 before the creation of the world? We read there was chaos, but the Spirit was there hovering over it all. Do you, therefore, think that perhaps the chaos in your life is overwhelming to Him? Of course, not!!!

Do you think that the addiction you are enslaved to is too much for Him? Has there been trauma and abuse in your past that have left wounds that might be the root causes of your addictive behavior…and if so is that beyond His power to heal and restore? Now there may be the need to seek a qualified counselor who can be of help in this process or medication that might be needed for any mental disorder you are experiencing. I have been on anti-depressants for 30+ years. God uses them to keep me sane.

The bottom line for today is for you to please understand that you are not alone and the very Holy Spirit of God who lived inside of Jesus also lives inside of you. He is all-powerful and all-knowing and His purpose in you is to help you become more like Jesus.

He is in us to transform us

and that is something only He can do.

 

Therefore, as we are commanded in Ephesians 5:18…we are told to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day and we are told to walk by means of the Spirit so that we do not fulfill the desires of the flesh. So, if you want to be experiencing His power to not continue in porn then surrender your body to God daily and ask the Spirit to fill you…or as I like to say…ask Him to influence you in the choices you are going to make each day.

He is the ultimate source of the power you need to begin to become unentangled from sexual sin.

More tomorrow.

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